Let's Get To Know Honey Beard

Honey Beard (Gaz & Tom) is an award winning Electronic Synthwave duo from Toronto, Canada. The band have been creating music since 2012 drawing on early influences such as Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and The Doors. The band have built up quite a reputation for their frenetic live performances with edgy songs that have shaken up typical synthwave tropes while balancing dark synths over bright thumping beats.

1- Where did you grow up?

Gaz: A place called Dundalk, in Ireland

Tom: Montreal, Canada 2- What is one of the first songs you remember liking as a kid?

Gaz: Dancing Queen by Abba and Oxygen by Jean Michelle Jarre

Tom: The first song I can remember liking as a child is Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by The Beatles.

3- What influenced you to get into music?

Gaz: Poetry initially, then I heard guitar distortion for the first time in a song called Two Princes by the Spin Doctors and was hooked, went right to Metallica from there. That's when I began learning the bass guitar.

Tom: Some friends and I wanted to start a band when we were 13/14. We randomly selected instruments to learn and got going. I ended up on drums. None of us progressed passed “extreme beginner” levels of proficiency and the idea of the band fell apart. 4- At what age did you start playing/singing?

Gaz: Around 15 years old I was big into Nirvana and wanted to scream like him, I tried it out a few times and was able to master it (can't do it anymore), so I began singing more and found I could hold a note even though I was always thrown out of choir classes at school.

Tom: After the short-lived band that went nowhere (14ish) my uncle forgot his guitar at my house. I taught myself a few songs and transitioned to the family piano once my uncle picked up his guitar. 5- If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself after finishing school?

Gaz: You have dyscalculia, that's why you can't tell the time, remember numbers, do simple calculations etc., you are not stupid and don't belong in a remedial class!

Tom: Now is the best time to take a risk… you literally have nothing to lose. 6- What are some of your favorite songs at the moment?

Tom: In this shirt by the Irrepresibles

Gaz: I bought a heap of stuff on Bandcamp recently so I've been listening though that, can't give you a definite answer but fellow synth artists like The Subtheory, Eden Future, Le Groupe Fantastique, Czarina, Midnight HI FI, Bunny X, Thorrison, The Institute 91, even local rock acts like Blackout Orchestra, Prince Innocence, Bingeninja and some Irish artists like Elephant, Larry, Just Mustard and much more 7- Do you listen to your own music?